Biography
Lyricist Sidney Clare entered the world in New York City on August 15, 1892, and first gained experience on the vaudeville stage, where dance and comedy formed the core of his act. Songwriting drew his interest as well, yielding the 1921 Tin Pan Alley favorite “Ma, He’s Makin’ Eyes at Me,” a joint effort with composer Con Conrad that Eddie Cantor introduced to audiences. Five years later came “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain (If I Knew I’d Find You),” fashioned with Lew Brown; Sophie Tucker and Al Jolson both scored early successes with it, and jazz players later embraced the number repeatedly.
Clare joined Sam Stept to write “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” in 1931, a vehicle that became a hit for Gene Austin and acquired broader jazz currency once Louis Armstrong recorded it. His most sustained output arrived after he began scoring films, starting with the complete music for Street Girl, RKO Pictures’ first release in 1929.
Once settled in Los Angeles, Clare supplied songs for more than fifty pictures. One of the most prominent was the co-write with Richard A. Whiting of Shirley Temple’s signature number “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” featured in the 1934 film Bright Eyes. The following year he and Buddy de Sylva furnished another Temple vehicle, “Polly Wolly Doodle,” for The Littlest Rebel. Additional credits include “Keeping Myself for You” with Vincent Youmans, the jazz and pop standard “You’re My Thrill” composed with Jay Gorney for 1933’s Jimmy and Sally, and several songs—most of them with Oscar Levant—for Alice Faye’s 1935 picture Music Is Magic. Warner Brothers briefly used “I Think You’re Ducky” as a cartoon theme in the early 1930s.
After that decade closed, Clare’s assignments grew infrequent, though he continued to compose sporadically until his death in Los Angeles on August 29, 1972.
Clare joined Sam Stept to write “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” in 1931, a vehicle that became a hit for Gene Austin and acquired broader jazz currency once Louis Armstrong recorded it. His most sustained output arrived after he began scoring films, starting with the complete music for Street Girl, RKO Pictures’ first release in 1929.
Once settled in Los Angeles, Clare supplied songs for more than fifty pictures. One of the most prominent was the co-write with Richard A. Whiting of Shirley Temple’s signature number “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” featured in the 1934 film Bright Eyes. The following year he and Buddy de Sylva furnished another Temple vehicle, “Polly Wolly Doodle,” for The Littlest Rebel. Additional credits include “Keeping Myself for You” with Vincent Youmans, the jazz and pop standard “You’re My Thrill” composed with Jay Gorney for 1933’s Jimmy and Sally, and several songs—most of them with Oscar Levant—for Alice Faye’s 1935 picture Music Is Magic. Warner Brothers briefly used “I Think You’re Ducky” as a cartoon theme in the early 1930s.
After that decade closed, Clare’s assignments grew infrequent, though he continued to compose sporadically until his death in Los Angeles on August 29, 1972.